


Claw Your Way to Kingdom

by aqivs



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band), ONEUS (Band), ONF (Band), Pentagon (Korea Band), TOO | Ten Oriented Orchestra (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band), VERIVERY (Band)
Genre: Multi, Road to Kingdom, Supernatural Elements, and this might effect some of performances oh no!, but basically some of them are cats now, idk what the heck is happening in this fic, like accidentally getting turned into a cat against ur will, no beta because lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25029409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aqivs/pseuds/aqivs
Summary: What happens when each group participating in the highly anticipated Road to Kingdom experiences some set-backs mid competition? Will they be able to overcome their struggles and achieve victory?
Relationships: Bae Joonyoung | Jacob/Moon Hyungseo | Kevin, Choi Sungyoon | Y/Lee Daeyeol, Younghoon / The Boyz
Comments: 26
Kudos: 75





	1. Are you Fur-real?!

Sangyeon bolted awake to the piercing screech echoing through the dorm. His mind was still groggy from his sleep, but he wasted no time in racing out of his room. His heart was racing. His palms were sweaty. With every second that passed by, the more he felt dread overtake him. It didn’t take a detective to figure out who that specific scream belonged to: Changmin. Oh god, Sangyeon was beginning to wonder if he was having another one of his biting spiels. Or, perhaps, maybe Annabelle finally showed up for a visit.

“Changmin?! Sunwoo?!” His fists pounded against their shared room, “Open up! What’s wrong?!” The lingering silence only further cemented his fear. “Changmin?” Sangyeon called out, cautiously this time. 

A few more seconds passed. A crowd was beginning to form outside the door. Worried looks being exchanged between each member. Then, the slow creak of the door finally opening. It was cracked ever so slightly and revealed only part of Changmin’s face. Even as Sangyeon tried to look behind him, the lights to the room were turned off.

“Changmin?” Sangyeon addressed him, brows hiked upwards, “Everything okay?”

His question resulted in a prompt nod from the other as a clearly fake smile crossed his face. “Oh, yeah. It’s fine, sorry. Don’t worry about it!” The confidence in his voice was almost convincing. Almost. Except, Sangyeon knew his members too well to be fooled by this. Judging by the look of the others gathered around, most of them raised concerned looks.

“You sure about that? Is Sunwoo okay?” Because, the oddly angled crack in the door made it impossible to see anything but Changmin. The mention of Sunwoo’s name, however, made Changmin’s eyes quickly avoid the others. “What’s going on?” Sangyeon moved closer to the door, attempting to push past Changmin.

“Ah!” He was blocked, “Sunwoo isn’t feeling well. Come back another day!”

This time, Hyunjae spoke up. “What? Sunwoo never gets sick.” He had been one of the first to respond to the scream alongside Sangyeon. Except, Hyunjae was the first to actually push Changmin out of the way and enter the room. He flicked on the lightswitch.

And, that’s when Sangyeon saw it.

Well, rather the absence of it.

Two messy beds indicating the shared room - yet, Sangyeon could only see one resident.

“What the fuck?” Hyunjae took the words from him.

It didn’t make sense. Sunwoo had been exhausted after practicing all day yesterday and had quickly retreated to his room that night. He wasn’t the type to sneak out, either. It wasn’t as if Sangyeon was strict about late night exits. But, it was also too early for Sunwoo to even be awake at this hour. Yet, his bed clearly looked as if he had slept in it. Then, it happened.

Soft, but direct - a familiar sound coming from the other side of Sunwoo’s bed. Sangyeon didn’t have to get closer. Eric had already dashed over, picking up the culprit and exclaiming, “Oh my god?! I can’t believe Sunwoo and Changmin hyungs stole a cat without telling us!”

Except, the dread in Sangyeon never vanished.

“Actually…” Changmin, who had been awfully quiet until this moment finally raised his voice, “That is Sunwoo.”

The silence that followed his claim was cut abruptly by the cat Eric held.

“No. No way. Nope. Not true.” Clearly Hyunjae was in momentary disbelief. Sangyeon wished he could say the same about himself - but, how could he? The color of the cat’s fur was clearly an unnaturally dyed red. His facial features - even for a cat - were nearly identical to Sunwoo’s.

“Well, that’s new.” Kevin said, peering over Jacob’s shoulder for a better view, “Didn’t think humans could morph into cats, but clearly, I was mistaken.”

Jacob responded with a defeated sigh, “Humans can’t turn into cats.”

Humans can’t turn into cats. This wasn’t some fantasy world! This was reality - but, if so, why couldn’t Sangyeon shake the idea of that truly being Sunwoo?

After several heated conversations and explanations, Sangyeon finally was able to round everyone up in the living room. According to Changmin, he had woke up just in time to see the whole thing unravel. Apparently it was akin to a possession of sort as he described Sunwoo as ‘slightly floating in the air with lights surrounding him’ then, apparently, he was just turned into a cat. And of course, Sunwoo picked the worst day to it! Today was their scheduled meet up with Oneus. They were supposed to be preparing for their collab stage together!

“I mean,” Haknyeon, who had now taken over the role of holding the cat, spoke up, “He’s kind of cute, not gonna lie. I mean, sure, this isn’t normal. I just doubt he’s going to suddenly change back into a human within the next thirty minutes. You also just can’t cancel with Oneus. We’re on a time limit.”

He was right.

“Wait, wait! I got it!” Eric jumped up, raising his hand as if he were in school, “What if I just come with you guys to meet Oneus?”

Sangyeon wanted to deny, but-

“That’s,” Chanhee beat him, “not a bad idea. Our stage with Oneus requires a rapper. If Sunwoo isn’t able to practice for it, Eric needs to be able to fill in just in case.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“So what am I supposed to say? Leedo was expecting Sunwoo?” Sangyeon asked.

Chanhee just shrugged his shoulders back, “It’s not that hard to make a lie. He was doing all those stunts. We can just say he sprained an ankle. Leedo isn’t going to ask for a doctor’s note.”

Well…

“Yeah! Yeah! And if Sunwoo does turn back into normal, then all is good!”

Except, Sangyeon doubted all would be good…

“Okay, okay. Get ready. We’re leaving in 30 minutes. The rest of you need to prepare for the other stage. Younghoon, I’m leaving you in charge of catsitting.”

Was this a terrible no-good horrible idea? Absolutely. But, he’d have to do this until he could figure out what was wrong or how to fix it.


	2. MisFURtune Continues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oneus tries to decide what to do about their sudden hairy situation when they get a surprise visit! Uh oh!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is sort-of, kind of, written in oneus' perspective but sometimes not? sorry, i suck at writing. also not beta-d because i can't put anyone through this pain of weird fanfiction,,,,

Anxiety. Dread. Fear. Emotion after emotion. The air in the practice room thickened. It was hard to breathe. Ravn felt himself nearly gasping for air with every second that passed by. His glance towards his fellow comrades only seemed to solidify the tension feeling the room.

“So,” Silence was broken with Hwanwoong, “When they come,” all eyes landed on him, “The Boyz, I mean. When they come, what’s our story?”

Keonhee bit on his frowned lips, pausing for just a second before speaking, “It’s not like we can tell them the truth.”

“Obviously,” Seoho was next, his words falling with an awkward laugh, “Even if we did, there’s no way they’d believe us. I don’t even believe it!”

Xion only shrugged in response, “So?”

Then, attention landed on Ravn. 

Right. He was the one holding the culprit of their discussion. The small blue feline with short blue hair. Every now and then, it would even comment on their conversation with a low meow. It’s voice wasn’t laced in a soft pitch like most cats were. No, it deep. Deep enough that Xion had once threatened that he could probably go swimming in it. Still, it was that very meow that spoke the truth. It was the main indicator that their missing member might not have been so lost after all.

“Okay, okay.” Ravn finally spoke up, “So-”

Or, so Ravn had attempted to speak before the door to the RBW dance room had swung open. In an instant, everyone’s attention had been captured. New arrivals who seemed to look just as nervous as they did filed into the room. The Boyz. Heck, already?!

“Oh, you’re here!” Keonhee spoke first, his smile and enthusiasm threatening to wash away with fear. They hadn’t even come up with a story yet! This was not going to end well. One would think so, anyways. Except, there was something off. Their stage with the boys was only with a few members. In fact, Keonhee was positive that not only were The Boyz missing a member but they had discreetly replaced him with another.

“Hey guys!” Eric smile paired with his enthusiastic wave was a stark contrast to his alternative, “Hope you don’t mind. Sunwoo wasn’t feeling well so I’m going to fi-” He paused. His eyes instantly locking onto the small animal within Ravn’s arms. “You have a cat?!” Before Sangyeon could hold him down, Eric had already sprinted across the room and scooped up the cat in his arms. “He’s so cute!”

The entirety of Oneus exchanged concerned looks before Hwanwoong took the initiative. “Oh, yeah. We just got him this morning, actually. He’s very sensitive,” He gently took the cat back from Eric, “so we’re trying not too touch him too much. He’s also allergic to compliments, so please-” 

Eric didn’t seem bothered. “Right, right! No touching- gotcha!” But, maybe the lack of concern is what was also worrying.

“Back on topic though, where’s Sunwoo?” Hwanwoong asked as he handed the cat back to Ravn. Though the question bounced in the air to anyone willing to answer, his gaze primarily locked onto his new dance partner, Changmin. “Understudy is thoughtful and all, but-” 

“He’s sick.”

“Right-”

“Where’s Leedo?”

Silence followed Changmin’s question. Then, Xion’s eyes accidentally lingered to the cat before quickly bouncing back. Haha, woops. Good thing that no one caught that! ...or, so Xion had hoped before Sangyeon let out a huffed groan and threw his head backwards. “You’re kidding, right?” In exasperation (and in defeat), Sangyeon fell to sit on the floor, “How am I supposed to deal with two cats?”

“Wai-wait-wait-wait, what?” Keonhee practically ran over to the man, “Two cats?!”

“Holy shit, did someone else turn into a cat?” As Xion asked, he also made sure to turn around and individually count all his present teammates. Good news? No one in Oneus, apart from Leedo, turned into a cat. Bad news? Who the hell was Sangyeon talking about?

Juyeon seemed to be slightly frazzled by the sudden spotlight his team was getting with the sudden ambush of questions. He began to utter a small _‘well’_ before sharply getting cut off by Eric’s, “Oh, you don’t know?” 

Oneus exchanged looks with each other before turning their attention back to Eric with shaking heads.

“Sunwoo, of course!” Eric seemed way too happy to blurt that out, but they couldn’t really deny the fact that the opposing team’s main rapper was missing or the defeated sighing that Sangyeon continuously offered.

Well, damn.

Ravn had no idea how to respond to the sudden dump of information. This was bullshit. It had to be! Of course, the proof was that Leedo had already morphed into a cat. Who was to say that The Boyz hadn’t experienced a similar problem? 

“I’ll just assume that’s why Sunwoo is, uh, sick?” Xion spoke up before any other Oneus member could, “Well that’s just fucking amazing. Your rapper and our main rapper are both cats now. Perfect. How the hell are we supposed to fill in for their opening scene?”

Ravn had to admit that Xion had a point. Even if The Boyz are allowing Eric to fill in for Sunwoo, Oneus didn’t have a spare rapper. Keonhee and Seoho both had their hands full with their duets with New and Juyeon. Hwanwoong had an entire dance scene with Q. If only they had…

“Can’t you rap?” Ravn was thrusted out of his thoughts with New’s sharp question - apparently, aimed at Xion. “You literally have 2.6 seconds of lines.”

Oh...right.

“Yeah, yeah!” Eric bounced, excitement trailing his voice as he clapped, “That’s right! Xion- Xion! We could do the rap part together! You’ll get more time to shine plus we’ll have fun!”

“And, you know, it’ll save us from having to find another rapper.” New added.

Heck.

They had him cornered.

Xion’s confidence from before seemed to have faded as his eyes fell to the floor. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Uh- Well,” He didn’t know who he was supposed to look at in the first place, “It’d be nice, but-”

Sensing the sudden attitude change, Hwanwoong chimed in, “He’ll do it.” Which, only seemed to earn him a look mixed with shock and horror from Xion. “Oh, please- It’ll be fine!”

Sangyeon, no longer looking like a depressed dad, suddenly bounced up with a look of hope, “Xion, if you do this- We might have a chance after all. We could do it. We could beat Pentagonf, and VeriTOO.”

“Oh, and it’ll be fun! Because you’ll be rapping with me!” Eric chimed in once more, this time latching arms with Xion in a way that almost made it impossible for anyone to refuse his request.

Goddammit.

Maybe Xion should admit that he-

Well, maybe he’ll save that for another time.

“Uhg,” Xion sighed, “Fine. I’ll do it. Just- Don’t blame me if we get kicked out of Road to Kingdom.”

Juyeon’s frowned, “Wait- We can get kicked out?!”

“I mean, I’m not the main rapper. I don’t know how I’m supposed to hold everything up.”

“Just be yourself! The raps are already written - you just have to be yourself and find a flow that suits you.” Eric seemed like he was trying to give good advice, but Xion didn’t want to admit he had no clue what he was talking about. Oh well, it couldn’t be that hard, right? It’s just a simple rap. He could do this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what am i doing with my life? why do i have a detailed analysis of every chapter of this stupid fic. someone stop me.


	3. FURious Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> huh, something seems wrong with pentagONF today

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i know i went dead for two months i am sorry

Let’s just say Hui was having a no-good terrible awful day. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong  _ went _ wrong. The universe must have had it out for him. There’s literally no explanation for whatever the heck was happening in this very moment!

He rolled back his shoulders, letting a sigh fall from his lips before raising a hand. “Can I just say something?” This had to be addressed. “How the hell are you guys so calm about this?” His question landed straight to the corner of the recording studio.

Confused? Yeah, so was Hui. Even after rubbing his eyes several times, he had no explanation for this. Everything looked normal upon a quick glance. If anyone accidentally peaked into the room, they probably wouldn’t have noticed. It simply looked like that Kino, Seungjun, and Wyatt had all collectively decided that it was bring-your-pets-to-work day. The problem, however, was that the two cats being coddled weren’t even  _ cats _ !

All four of them had literally witnessed Wooseok and Hyojin shrink and morph into these feline creatures! Hui couldn’t even explain how it happened. It felt like an outer-body experience. It’s as if he had been watching some anime, except, real life. The weird part? Both Wooseok and Hyojin as cats still had the same color of fur as they did hair...Odd, but okay. At least Hui wouldn’t accidentally confuse the two of them. It’d probably suck if he accidentally took Hyojin to the dorm instead of Wooseok.

“No, for real,” Hui continued, “Isn’t this like, creepy?”

How the hell did this even happen?! Also, why did it even happen? 

Even with all of Hui’s concern, the others didn’t seem bothered. In fact, Wyatt looked more-or-less offended and held up Wooseok’s cat form. “Oh. My. God.” He pouted, “How could anyone find these cute little creatures as creepy? They’re adorable? I’m appalled and hurt by your comment.”

Kino even sided with Wyatt and held up Hyojin’s cat form. “Relax, hyung.” He shrugged his shoulders, “It’s not like they’re dangerous or anything.” 

Hui liked to believe the best in Hyojin, but he also had no faith whatsoever that Wooseok was some docile cat creature. It’s actually shocking no one’s been bit yet. 

“Besides,” Kino went on, “What’s the harm?”

Um, maybe their performance?! Both of them were literally the star players in their  _ Kill This Love _ collab. Even if the cats were relatively harmless beings, what about the stage?! Oh, and the fact that their teammates turned into literal cats with no indication of ever turning back. Cute or not, this was outrageous!

They  _ needed _ to win this round. This whole cat-thing was a complete set back, right? Well, maybe he could try and find a way to incorporate some cats in this stage but Hui really doubted that’d even fit the concept remotely.

“Come on, you know if this was any other time I’d totally be down for this.” Hui had to admit it’d be fun any other time. Creepy, but probably enjoyable. “Now’s not the time. Seungjun, you’ve been too quiet. You agree with me, right?”

He had to! Right?! Hui was banking on the fact they were both leaders and that maybe Seungjun would see it his way. 

“Eh, well,” Seungjun’s lead didn’t quite seem to be in Hui’s favor, “I mean, yeah, this whole thing sucks performance wise but I mean they are cute.” He didn’t stop there. “Adorable? Totally. We’re still totally screwed if they don’t magically turn back soon.”

It wasn’t quite the answer Hui was hoping for, but he’d take it. “Exactly! We don’t even know if they  _ can _ turn back - which, god, I don’t even want to think about - but, we have to at least plan.”

“Not to be dramatic,” Wyatt interjected, “Are we sure no one else has this problem?” That’s a reasonable question. Hui had totally overlooked it earlier. Now that he’s thinking about it, it’s totally possible. It wasn’t like it was just one person in the room. It just so happened to be one Pentagon member and one ONF member. This felt calculated.

That thought had Kino snapping his fingers as he jumped to his feet (which earned him a spiteful meow from Hyojin), “I’ll text Jaehyun!” Not gonna lie, it took Hui a solid second to realize Kino was referring to  _ Hyunjae _ and not Jaehyun from Golcha. Damn, too many Jaehyuns. “Damn,” Kino bit down on his lip, “Think I should be vague about it? Or direct?”

“Direct!” Wyatt was quick to follow Kino in jumping up, “Send a photo of the cats while you’re at it.”

Seungjun nodded and added a clap, “Genius.” Exactly how any of this was genius is still a mystery to Hui. “Oh! See if he can figure out which cat is which!”

Why…? Oh, well.

“Already on it.” Kino nodded, “Okay, sent.”

The three of them seemed to be on the same wavelength. At this point, Hui should stop fighting his own logic and reasoning. Giving in seemed like more fun. “So, did he say anything?”

“Yo,” The way Kino dragged out the  _ ‘o’ _ was indication enough, “Guys, guys. Look at this!” The moment Kino showed off his phone, both Seungjun and Wyatt seemed to have ascended to a different reality. Wyatt’s jaw was practically touching the floor and Seungjun’s eyes were so wide that it’s a miracle they didn’t pop out by accident. 

Okay, okay. They definitely piqued Hui’s interest. “It can’t be that bad,” He said, walking closer to Kino to look at the phone. ...Oh, yeah, no the reactions made perfect since. “You’re fucking kidding me?” 

According to Hyunae’s text (followed by photo proof), both Sunwoo and Leedo had been morphed into cats. 

“Well, at least I can rule out the idea that they were trying to sabotage us.” Hui didn’t actually think they were, but  _ someone _ was. “Ask him when it happened, oh! And see if they’re planning to redivide parts.” Planning comes first. They probably were going to have to redivide their parts or maybe rope in other members. Yuto could easily replace Wooseok. Minkyun and Changyoon were also valid candidates to replace Hyojin.

Ah… but, now that Hui was thinking about it… Was VeriTOO experiencing similar issues?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i only write this @ 2am when all sanity is gone


	4. FURing Distress!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi i return again after 525527 months. this time, VeriTOO faces some issues! this is the last of the introductions! so, next chapter we'll actually get the ball rolling with the story. Maybe I'll complete this in time for Kingdom? Who knows lol

“The flag!” 

A shout loud enough to wake even a corpse from the dead ricocheted against the walls of the abundantly-small room. It was pitchy and filled with a wave of anxiety that cracked a strain with the way the syllables were enunciated. Dongheon didn’t even have to open his eyes to know the voice was Woonggi’s. That kid bounced with so much energy that even peaceful moments weren’t dull. 

“Oh, wait- Nevermind! Found it!”

A handful, but cute. Still, Woonggi’s scare had Dongheon on his feet and quickly scanning the room. Minchan and Kangmin were focusing on adjusting their in-ear monitors. Hoyoung was rehearsing the rap lines with J.You and Chan. Chihoon was asleep on one of the chairs in a position that definitely did not look comfortable in the slightest. Maybe if they hadn’t been awake and 4am preparing for this stage then Dongheon might have judged him, but, how could he even blame him at this point?

Woonggi, Kyungho, Yeonho and Yongseung were being far too loud while playing with the newly found flag. Minsu, Jisu, and Donggeon were quietly chatting back and forth while occasionally rehearsing their lines. Wait….

A moment of panic began to set in and Dongheon began to frantically count everyone. Minchan, Kangmin, Hoyoug, J.You, Chan, Chihoon, Woonggi, Kyungho, Yeonho, Yongseung, Minnsu, Jisu, Donggeon…. Oh, fu-

“Dongheon!” The voice that cuts his train of thought is the same voice that harbors in relief. Dongheon has one hand on his chest and the other on the side of his head as he tries to calm down. It’s Jerome. Though he had a wide smile on his face, there was a tint of worry in his eyes. Dongheon hadn’t worked with him long, but he could see the way his smile faltered after a few seconds. The momentary relief from before was starting to fade back into worry. 

Jerome didn’t need to know that, so Dongheon put on his best comforting smile, “What’s up?”

“A-Ah,” Jerome frantically waved his arms, “Nothing much. I was just wondering if you had seen Jaeyun? He’s not answering his texts and I really need to ask him something. I thought you might know since, well, you’ve kind of taken the lead of everything.”

Wait….now that he was thinking about, he hadn’t seen Gyehyeon for a while either. Oh, god.

Dongheon’s eyes darted across the room. One by one, he counted every person in the room. “Shit,” he bit down on his lips. This was bad. Though TOO was a larger group, Jaeyun shouldn’t have been hard to find. Heck, Gyehyeon from his own group shouldn’t have been hard to spot! Yet, he couldn’t see either of them! “I don’t see him or Gyehyeon.” 

“Oh, weird.” Jerome reponsed with a frown, “Think they stepped outside for a bit?” 

Dongheon shook his head. “Doubt it. We’re only taking a five minute break, they wouldn’t have gone far.” It might have made more sense if Jaeyun and Gyehyeon vanished with the flag considering it was their highlight of the choreography, but Woonggi was the one parading it around. This didn’t make sense…. 

“They might have lost track of ti-” Jerome’s sentence was cut off by sudden squeals from the corner of the room.

Then, not but a second later, Woonggi skipped towards the two of them. “Guys! Guys!” He waved, “Look what Kangmin found! I think one of the staff might have left a door open! A few strays wandered in.”

….This was not at all what Dongheon was expecting to hear. “Strays?”

“Yeah! Kitties! Well, more like cats. But, still! Come and see!”

This was some gym they had rented out for practice. Maybe there were neighbourhood strays… Well, it wouldn’t hurt to see some cute cats. Pass the time and lift everyone’s spirits. Dongheon was a bit hesitant at first, but eventually let himself and Jerome get led over to the cats.

….Wait. Were those even cats?! They sure as hell looked like cats, but goddamn. A bright red cat and a...blonde cat? 

Before Dongheon got the chance to ask questions, his phone began to buzz. A call. From Youngjo. Ravn. At 4am?! Weird, but okay. Dongheon answered the call and suddenly things began to make sense…. But also, what the fuck?!

“So,” Dongheon raised his voice to gather everyone’s attention after the call ended, “Don’t laugh, but we have a major problem. I don’t how the hell this happened but Gyehyeon and Jaeyun are, well-” Verbalizing this was harder than he thought, “Look, those cats aren’t strays. They’re our members.”

No one understood the concept of Don’t Laugh, because nearly everyone bursted out the moment he finished speaking.

“You’re joking,” Hoyoung spoke up, “How-”

Dongheon didn’t let him finish. “I don’t know, okay? Ravn called me and basically told me to be on the look out. Apparently both them and The Boyz are down a few teammates because of this whole issue.” He sighed, “Before you ask anything else - I don’t really know! They’re still figuring it out themselves. They’re getting in touch with Pentagon to see if they’re having the same issue, but this is really bad.”

It was bad in more ways than one. Not only was the performance screwed up, but multiple teams were missing members. Mnet was either screwing around and this was some hidden camera prank, or something weird was happening. If Mnet wasn’t in on this? The producers and staff were going to think it’s weird that everyone was down a few members. The filming was in a few days for the performance, so they had until then to figure it out! Ahg, wait… but rehearsals! 

Oh… not only that, but now TOO was down a leader. It might have been a collab stage where they had somehow collectively put Dongheon in charge, but he knew they still looked to Jaeyun for guidance. He could only imagine how terrifying it must be for them. And, shit, Gyehyeon. His own teammate had been turned into a cat on his watch! How or why, who knows?! This was frustrating!

“It’s okay,” Dongheon spoke up again, “Relax, we’ll sort it out. It’s fine.” Because panic was going to rise if he didn’t step up, “I’ll keep in contact with the others and see if we can come up with some solutions. Until then, continue practicing your parts. I’ll assign the flag to someone else in the event that Gyehyeon and Jaeyun don’t come back before then - which, don’t worry, we’ll fix this.” Someone had to be moral support and not scare these poor children. Only problem? Dongheon had a feeling this wasn’t going to go the direction he wanted it to.


	5. Out of PAWtrol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hui and J-Us go to meet with the other teams to talk about their feline problems. Sangyeon, Dongheon, and Chihoon are all frazzled with this situation they're in! Xion has something to say. Let the guy speak.

Let’s just say that ditching a manager to escape to some creepy back alley would have been a lot harder if their group name wasn’t Pentagon. Hui discovered early on that he could give any old-generic lie and Cube Entertainment wouldn’t question it further. Staff kept too much of a close eye on other groups - but, hey! That worked out perfectly in his favor. He didn’t like people breathing down his back anyway… oh, and even more so now that this whole situation (could he even call it that?) had spiraled out of control.

Damn, he wished he could just forget any of this existed. It was unreal. How the hell was it even possible for people to change into literal cats right before his eyes?! Naturally, this was all happening a few days before the competition. His stress? Yikes. Definitely going to catch up on that vacation time after this whole thing was over and, hopefully, that would be soon. Hui was on his way to talk with the groups about this whole ordeal. It’d be far too suspicious if everyone came - so, he told everyone to pick one representative from each group and meet him at a specific location in roughly thirty minutes. No cats allowed.

“Sure you even wanna change them back?” Seungjun spoke up, quickening his pace to match his own.. Oh, right. Hui almost forgot that ONF was basically living in the Cube Building at the moment. No reason in particular for these sleepovers. They just had fun together, so why not! Besides, they were on the same team so might as well hang out while they could! It was nice to have a little friendliness in an overly-competitive survival show. 

Though the idea of not changing their friends back didn’t settle well with Hui, he still masked it through an awkward laugh. “Really?” He slowed down, raising a brow as he looked at Seungjun.

“Really! Think about it,” Seungjun started, “I think Hyojin’s a lot more friendlier as a cat. Fluffier too.” 

Well...Actually, yeah. Wooseok was fluffier too. It was a benefit - but, damn, Cat Wooseok slept most of the time. He wasn’t that much fun.

“C’mon,” Hui nudged against Seungjun as they walked, “Who’d lead On Team then? Surely not you.”

Seungjun laughed, “Why not? I’ve been improving my vocals lately. I think I could do it.” He said that, but followed up a second later, “Actually, no. On second thought, I’d rather not.”

“Thought so,” Hui teased, “We’ll get them back. Probably. We better.” Or else, the media would blow this up as a mysterious disappearing case of six idols - well, assuming no one else in the world had turned into cats recently. He figured he get more answers when he met up with the rest of the groups - which would be now!

From the looks of it, it seemed that Sangyeon was already in mid-discussion with Dongheon. Hui didn’t get to hear all of the conversation, but he definitely heard it mentioned how Juyeon was sulky because he wasn’t the one turned into a cat (literal mood). Chihoon seemed to be standing behind Dongheon, not actively participating in the conversation but still present and trying his best to listen. Now...Oneus. Hui wasn’t sure who he was expecting to show - but, it definitely wasn’t Xion. Oh? That worked too, he guessed. 

“Oh damn, should I have brought an ON representative?” Seungjun whispered to Hui which earned him a slight shake of the man’s head. Both ONF and Oneus were interesting groups in terms of leadership: ONF having two leaders (one of which were a cat right now) and Oneus having no leader.

“It’s fine, really.” Hui whispered back to Seungjun, then waved at the group to get their attention, “So, cats?”

“Cats.” Sangyeon didn’t skip a beat to reply, “I’d say this is just some elaborate hidden camera prank by Mnet, but Sunwoo literally changed in his dorm. I don’t think Mnet would go that far.”

Eh, Hui wouldn’t put it past Mnet. Except, oops, he literally witnessed Wooseok and Hyojin’s transformations. That wasn’t a prank. 

Dongheon followed up, “Look, I just want everything to go back to normal as soon as possible. Guys. I’m struggling.” One could only imagine the horror of having to explain to not only his group, but also TOO how cats have replaced their members. Terrifying.

“Has anyone been in contact with Golden Child?” Hui asked, a bit directly.

Both Dongheon and Chihoon were quick to deny.

Sangyeon shook his head. “No, why?”

“Just wondering,” Hui frowned, “Since we all have cats, was wondering if they did too.”

Seungjun shrugged his shoulders, “Doubt it. They’re not here anymore. I think it might just be us.”

Just as Xion was about to interject, he was promptly cut off as the others carried the conversation.

“That sounds right.” Sangyeon said, “I feel like they would have texted us if something happened. We’re on friendly terms.”

Hui nodded, letting that be his official answer for that particular question. “Okay, so then, now what? Just hope our guys come back to us? How are we supposed to compete now?”

“I dont know,” Chihoon actually spoke up, wow, “I just think it’s weird that this cat thing affected our two most members for this round.”

Wait….actually….

Hui hadn’t thought about till now. But, damn, Chihoon was on to something. Wooseok and Hyojin had some of the killing parts in their stage!

“Literally Sunwoo and Leedo were our main rappers for this. Their lines carry the entire stage.” Sangyeon continued where Chihoon left off, “Eric’s volunteering to take Sunwoo’s spot, and Oneus said they’ll look into redividing parts - but, it’s already hard since we have the choreography made.”

Once again, Xion was about to speak up and instead, Seungjun interjected, “Dude. Our stage was about to fire!” And, it was until their main men vanished. Looks like everyone was going to have completely re-do everything. There’s no way around it. Well...actually?

VeriVery and TOO had enough members that they could probably do minimal changes to the choreography in order to make sure things went smoothly. Hui knew he could have Yuto come in for Woosoek. Hyojin’s part would be a little harder, but Minkyun or Changyoon might be good replacements. Other Yuto could work too, but wouldn’t that be too many Yuto’s?

The Boyz had it rough. While Eric could work as a replacement for Sunwoo, Hui wasn’t sure if the delivery would be the same. He knew the rapline was invested in writing their lyrics and connecting it to their emotions. Would Eric connect the same way? He hoped so! But...oh, Oneus. All of their members already had lines and parts within the stage, right? To change that would mean the entire stage had to be re-choreographed. 

“Guys!”

Hui’s attention was pulled away with the sound of...Xion’s voice?!

“I was trying not to be rude by cutting anyone off, but, you’re wrong. About several things.”

Oh? What’s this new development?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why am i still writing this? why do i use stage names for pentagon and oneus? i clearly know their real names lol... I guess onf is getting special treatment because J-Us & E-Tion are awkward to write story wise.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, yes i am making this a chaptered work, haha. I have quite a bit planned out for this...interesting...adventure. 
> 
> For research purposes only, what was everyone's favorite interactions from rtk? Definitely not gonna use this info in the future :)


End file.
